nodded.
“I’ll get my jacket and meet you out front,” he said.
Somehow she managed to put one foot in front of the other and walk back outside only to come face-to-face with his huge…poster again. What am I doing ? I’m going out with a male stripper , she thought. A chuckle worked its way up into her throat. She laughed at her luck where men were concerned and at what Brenda would say when she told her the story. She laughed until tears streaked down her face. A woman entering the club stopped and gave her a strange look.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, and the woman nodded in return.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too,” Jeff said from behind her while he draped his arm across her shoulders. “Ready for some fun?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I am.”
* the end *
Copyright Disclaimers: The song But Not For Me is from the 1930 musical Girl Crazy by George and Ira Gershwin. Star Trek is a registered trademark of Paramount Studios. All characters from Star Trek are the property of Paramount Studios.
Don’t Miss L.K. Campbell’s Historical Western Novella
The Law & Annabelle
Young widow Annabelle Miles hopes to make a fresh start in the Dakota Territory where her aunt owns a gold mine. When her stagecoach stops for the night, she accidentally witnesses a clandestine meeting to sell a diamond mine. The next morning, Annabelle learns that one of the men she saw has been murdered. U.S. Marshal Luke Johnson arrives to investigate the crime and finds himself taken with the widow Miles. It doesn’t bode well for romance when Luke arrests Annabelle’s Aunt Julia as the suspected mastermind behind the phony diamond mine scheme and the murder.
Part murder mystery, part romance, The Law & Annabelle will take you on a wild ride through the old west.
Chapter 1
1882
Three days on a train bound for Chicago had taxed Annabelle’s nerves and her senses. She had thought the odors from the train were bad enough, but the small room she rented for the night was situated downwind of the stockyards. She sat down on a tiny cot and removed the creased envelope from her purse. She unfolded the paper and reread her aunt’s letter.
Dearest Annabelle,
Ruth wrote to me of your engagement, and I’m sure that by the time you receive this wedding gift, you will already be a blushing bride. Mail doesn’t move too swiftly out here.
To make a long story short, I sunk my life’s savings into a gold mine, and I’m now the richest woman in this part of the Dakota Territory.
If you and your new husband ever decide to venture out west, it would please me very much if you would visit me in Red Gorge.
All my love and best wishes,
Aunt Julia
The vibration of a passing train rattled the room. Her new husband ? A tear dropped from her eye and stained the pink paper. Annabelle closed her eyes. The death of her husband seemed as if it had happened yesterday instead of a few months earlier.
“ I’m sorry, Mrs. Miles ,” the doctor said . “ Your husband has expired .”
Expired? Her husband was dead. A newspaper subscription expired. People died.
“ I tried to tell Jacob that his heart wasn’t strong enough to perform…well…the duties of marriage at his age ,” he said .
In truth, Jacob had only performed his marital duty one time. And surely, those two minutes on their wedding night wasn’t enough to kill him. If anything, it had been harder on her. The consummation of her marriage had shown her what a terrible mistake she’d made. Perhaps Jacob had realized the same thing. Since that night, he’d slept in another room and hadn’t come to her bed again.
“ So what do I do now ?” she asked more to herself than to the doctor .
“ Send for the undertaker ,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders .
It took more than a week to lay Jacob to rest. His son Byron insisted that his body should be autopsied by the physicians
“I’ll get my jacket and meet you out front,” he said.
Somehow she managed to put one foot in front of the other and walk back outside only to come face-to-face with his huge…poster again. What am I doing ? I’m going out with a male stripper , she thought. A chuckle worked its way up into her throat. She laughed at her luck where men were concerned and at what Brenda would say when she told her the story. She laughed until tears streaked down her face. A woman entering the club stopped and gave her a strange look.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, and the woman nodded in return.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too,” Jeff said from behind her while he draped his arm across her shoulders. “Ready for some fun?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I am.”
* the end *
Copyright Disclaimers: The song But Not For Me is from the 1930 musical Girl Crazy by George and Ira Gershwin. Star Trek is a registered trademark of Paramount Studios. All characters from Star Trek are the property of Paramount Studios.
Don’t Miss L.K. Campbell’s Historical Western Novella
The Law & Annabelle
Young widow Annabelle Miles hopes to make a fresh start in the Dakota Territory where her aunt owns a gold mine. When her stagecoach stops for the night, she accidentally witnesses a clandestine meeting to sell a diamond mine. The next morning, Annabelle learns that one of the men she saw has been murdered. U.S. Marshal Luke Johnson arrives to investigate the crime and finds himself taken with the widow Miles. It doesn’t bode well for romance when Luke arrests Annabelle’s Aunt Julia as the suspected mastermind behind the phony diamond mine scheme and the murder.
Part murder mystery, part romance, The Law & Annabelle will take you on a wild ride through the old west.
Chapter 1
1882
Three days on a train bound for Chicago had taxed Annabelle’s nerves and her senses. She had thought the odors from the train were bad enough, but the small room she rented for the night was situated downwind of the stockyards. She sat down on a tiny cot and removed the creased envelope from her purse. She unfolded the paper and reread her aunt’s letter.
Dearest Annabelle,
Ruth wrote to me of your engagement, and I’m sure that by the time you receive this wedding gift, you will already be a blushing bride. Mail doesn’t move too swiftly out here.
To make a long story short, I sunk my life’s savings into a gold mine, and I’m now the richest woman in this part of the Dakota Territory.
If you and your new husband ever decide to venture out west, it would please me very much if you would visit me in Red Gorge.
All my love and best wishes,
Aunt Julia
The vibration of a passing train rattled the room. Her new husband ? A tear dropped from her eye and stained the pink paper. Annabelle closed her eyes. The death of her husband seemed as if it had happened yesterday instead of a few months earlier.
“ I’m sorry, Mrs. Miles ,” the doctor said . “ Your husband has expired .”
Expired? Her husband was dead. A newspaper subscription expired. People died.
“ I tried to tell Jacob that his heart wasn’t strong enough to perform…well…the duties of marriage at his age ,” he said .
In truth, Jacob had only performed his marital duty one time. And surely, those two minutes on their wedding night wasn’t enough to kill him. If anything, it had been harder on her. The consummation of her marriage had shown her what a terrible mistake she’d made. Perhaps Jacob had realized the same thing. Since that night, he’d slept in another room and hadn’t come to her bed again.
“ So what do I do now ?” she asked more to herself than to the doctor .
“ Send for the undertaker ,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders .
It took more than a week to lay Jacob to rest. His son Byron insisted that his body should be autopsied by the physicians
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